To Be Truly Proud
by Artemis225
Summary: They had gotten to a relatively secluded area and Draco bent to his knees to look his eyes into his son's, "You are my pride and joy. You are what I want you to be; yourself. I will always be proud of you, no matter what house you are sorted into.


**A/N: I do not own Harry Potter sadly. I had this stuck in my head for a few days now so I wanted to write it out. Enjoy and review!**

Draco looked over the rubble of the school and sighed….. It was finally over. The darkness, the pain, the fear, it was all over, and he felt ashamed of himself. He hadn't done anything to help, just cowered in fear and followed in his father's footsteps, or tried to. But he soon realized that his father was weak, not the type of man Draco wanted to be. He was through. Through of being weak, through with the prejudice, through with being hateful and hurtful. He was through with the past. He was ready for the future, and would try to make the best of it no matter what happened.

19 years later

Draco walked his son Scorpius across the platform. Draco had a bitter sweet feeling in his heart. He wanted to keep his little boy forever safe, but knew that now was the moment that he had to let go. Now was the moment where Scorpius would strive to become a strong man, and Draco had hoped he had done right by him. They still had a few minutes before the train would leave and began to walk his to talk when he caught sight of the Potters, and the Weasleys. Draco's eyes locked on to Hermione's for a brief second before he nodded to the Golden Trio and continued his route.

They had gotten to a relatively secluded area and Draco bent to his knees to look his eyes into his son's, "You are my pride and joy. You are what I want you to be; yourself. I will always be proud of you, no matter what house you are sorted into, no matter who you end up falling in love with, I will always love you. You are my son, you are a Malfoy, and despite what your grandfather did to ruin that name, you should be proud of who you are, not what people think of you. I didn't follow my heart, and I paid the ultimate price, do not be me Scorpius, be yourself. You're too young to understand fully right now, but try to keep these words with you, ok?"

"Ok father. But what if I'm sorted into Gryffindor or something," the young boy asked, fear and nervousness clearly written on his face.

"No matter what Scorpius, I will be proud of you. Just don't follow my footsteps. Now hurry along now, you need to get on the train or you'll be in trouble," Draco said then ruffled his son's hair before he hugged him. He hoped that he had done right by his son. He will not be his father, who was now currently rotting in Azkaban.

The next day Draco received a letter from his son saying that he was sorted into Gryffindor, and Draco also noticed that his son mentioned new friends quite a few times, but one in particular; Rose Weasley. Draco couldn't fight the smile as he wrote back.

6 years after that

"Hey, Dad. Can I talk to you for a few minutes," the teenage Scorpius asked him, and Draco almost thought he was looking in a mirror of his own teenage self for a second, but dispelled the thought and smiled.

"Of course, what's troubling you son," Draco asked, but had a feeling that it was about a certain bushy, red-haired girl.

"Well, it's about Rose and me. You know that we had been dating since our fourth year," the young Malfoy stopped and the older one nodded for him to continue, "Well, you see, I was planning on asking her to marry me."

"And you wanted to know if I would be ok with that because of my and her family's past," Draco finished for him.

"Yes, that's exactly it! So, are you ok with that," Scorpius asked tentively and Draco looked him straight in the eyes.

"Do you remember what I told you that first time I sent you off to Hogwarts?"

"Yes, you said to not follow in your footsteps," Scorpius said, remembering the conversation clearly.

"If you marry this girl, you won't be following my footsteps. And even if I did say to _not _marry her, I would hope that you would do it anyways because you love her. I gave up the girl I loved for stupid reasons Scorpius, don't do the same," Draco said and his son nodded then moved to leave the room.

"Thank you dad. I'll see you later, time to go ask her father for her hand," Scorpius said, a huge grin on his face. Draco nodded and his son left and Draco allowed the grin to creep into his own face.

Later that day at the Weasley residence

"Daddy, can I talk to you," Rose asked her father in his study and Ron nodded.

"Of course baby girl, what's up?"

"I need to tell you something, and I know you won't like it," Rose said nervously and all Ron did was nod, telling her to continue. Rose took a huge breath then continued, "I've fallen in love."

"Why would I have a problem with-."

"With Scorpius Malfoy," she cut her father off, and saw the red flow into his angry face as he took deep breaths to calm down. He spoke in a low and final voice.

"You are to never see that boy again Rose. Do you understand me?"

"No, I don't! Why should I have to stay away with him," Rose's volume rising with every word.

"Because of who is," Ron said simply, trying to keep his voice the same volume.

"But you don't know who he is! You never met him!"

"I know who his father is! I know who his family is! He was raised by a Malfoy, he will act like a Malfoy! The pompous, evil gits they are," Ron yelled, not able to control his temper anymore.

"You know who his father _WAS! _And even so, that doesn't make him like his father! You don't know what he's been through," Rose exclaimed.

"Oh I'm sure he's had such a hard life, being rich and all. Poor baby," Ron said sarcastically, hating that she had his temper and Hermione's stubbornness all rolled into one.

"How about the whispers Dad? How about being shunned for years, only having two friends until now, all because of what his grandfather did over 25 years ago! You have never have had to have gone through that Dad. To be hated for something that you didn't even do. For being picked on endlessly, getting into fights with other students because they called you a Death Eater's son."

"He _IS_ a Death Eater's son! You shouldn't be associated with that Rose. And not know what he's going through? I _LIVED _that, your mom has lived that, you aunts and uncles have lived that. We were there when Voldemort rose to power. So don't tell me what I do or don't know," Ron said then faced the window as his daughter continued, her voice lowered substantially.

"You don't know Dad. And now you have become what you've hated the most of your life."

"How dare you say that to me," Ron whirled around, feeling her words hit home and looked at his baby girl. But she wasn't a baby girl anymore, she was a woman now, and that hurt him more then he could say because of her words.

"If it says Malfoy, sounds like Malfoy, looks like Malfoy, even remotely related to Malfoy in anyway, you automatically hate it. That's being prejudiced, and no matter what you say, I am marrying Scorpius. Because I love him Daddy, I love him. We have been through so much together, there's no way I couldn't," tears began to well up in her eyes, but Ron knew better than to go and try to comfort her.

"Why can't you just let the past go? Mum has," Rose whispered and Ron sighed.

"There is no way to forgive them for what they had done to the people I love. That hate goes too far deep in my heart to just let it go," Ron said quietly, thinking of his brother that he lost, of almost losing the girl he loved, of the people that influenced his life the most, "But I will meet Scorpius, and I will see if he is worthy of such a beautiful, strong girl as you." Rose smiled through her tears and gave him a hug and then she walked to the door and opened it in such a way where she was halfway through it before speaking again.

"Good, because he's coming in twenty minutes," Rose said quickly and ran out as Ron bellowed his last words that practically shook the house.

"ROSE! YOU BETTER GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" Ron chuckled after words though and Hermione stepped in and sat in her husband's lap.

"She's right you know," she said and Ron sighed.

"She's always right. Wonder where she got that trait," Ron said and looked at his wife before continuing, "I just don't want her to get hurt."

"He's in Gryffindor. The first of the Malfoy line," Hermione said to him and he looked at her with wide eyes.

"How do you know that?"

"McGonagall and I keep in touch. She also says that he has been quite smitten with our girl since day one, because she would be the only one who would peak to him. We taught her how to be kind Ron, we taught her how to be who she is today, and I know she's smart enough not to be led on by a boy. Give him a chance. You never know, you might see something in him that you won't expect," she got up and left the room. Ron thought about her words and his daughter's and stood up and walked down the stairs, ready to greet his guest.

Scorpius stood outside the Weasleys' door and knocked and when he saw her red eyes when she answered, instantly knew she had been crying. He placed his hand on her cheek, rubbing small circles with his thumb, "You've been crying."

"I'm ok, it's all ok. Come on, my dad wants to meet you," Rose said cheerfully and pulled him into the sitting room and saw Ron, standing tall, his arms crossing his broad chest from years of Quidditch, and his piercing blue eyes, not hiding the suspicion. Rose made the proper introductions then made an excuse to leave, "I have to go help mum in the kitchen," she gave a peck on the lips to Scorpius which caused Ron to glare at him then a peck to the cheek to her father as she scurried out of the room.

"You're a Malfoy," Ron simply said and Scorpius nodded.

"I am, but I am not my father Mr. Weasley, or my grandfather," he said to him, his voice strong, determination in his eyes.

"Do you know what your family did to mine? How do I know that I can trust you," Ron asked, clenching his jaw, and the young Malfoy looked him square in the eye.

"I know what family has done, but I am not my family. And I should have said that I am like my father. He is a strong and caring man and regrets his past with every breath he takes. I can see it in his eyes, the pain he feels. You have a happy, carefree life Mr. Weasley, my father does not. He carries the weight of all of those people that died all of those years ago. And all I can truly say is that I love Rose more than anything in this world. She has saved me so many times, and the last thing I want to do is hurt her. But that doesn't mean that I won't because I probably will at some point in time, and I honestly don't deserve her," Scorpius finished and Ron looked at him closely, seeing a bit of him and Harry in the young boy.

"I believe you. I already made my decision. You can be with my daughter, because I worked too hard for a world for everyone to be happy, and it's not going to change now because of the past. So, you have mine and her mother's blessing," Ron said then walked away. All Scorpius could do was smile.

3 years later

Draco walked into his son's dressing room as his son got ready for his ready. Draco stepped into the mirror and began to look at their reflections and smiled, "I'm so proud of you Scorpius. You are so much more than I was."

"That's not true Dad. You are the reason I am the man that I am today, the reason why I have such a wonderful girl as Rose. You are a lot more than what you think you are, and I'm sure she thought the same at some point," Draco was startled by his son's last words and looked at him confusedly and Scorpius continued, "You don't think I haven't noticed the glances at Rose's mum. I may be a Gryffindor, but I'm not stupid."

"That obvious eh," Draco asked as he smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his neck.

"You think? Have you ever thought about talking to her? Maybe you'll feel better."

"And get my balls hexed off by Weasley? I think not. The way I'm doing it is fine. She's oblivious and I'm content with my longing glances. That's how it's been, and that's how it's going to stay. You should be more worried about getting married than my unrequited love for a _married_ woman anyway," Draco said as he brushed away imaginary lint from his son's dress robes and began to fix the already perfect collar.

"I'm not worried. This feels right to me. I just want you to be happy Dad."

"I'm happy knowing that you're happy. Now you better get out there before she hexes you, I hear she favors the Bat-bogey hex like her aunt," Draco whispered and Scorpius laughed as he made his way to the altar. Draco sat down in his seat as the seats began to fill in. He recognized most of everyone, very few people were connected to the Malfoys. Malfoy watched as the wedding commenced and felt the tears sting his eyes, he was free. The pain he felt was gone.


End file.
